Artificial intelligence and service management – a chance with many challenges

Artificial intelligence has the chance to revolutionize the entire service management!

The requirements to the service management continuously increased in the recent years and will continue to increase. Users have higher demands in regard to time and quality of their inquiries. Today companies can hardly afford technical failures. To meet these requirements, AI systems are used to make service management more efficient and effective.

Through the process of digitalization, the service management plays a strategic important role within the company. Efficient processes are the requirements for each kind of digitalization projects.

Virtual bots, machine learning and human language processing can automate the service management.

The benefits of artificial intelligence in the service management are enormous. Here are the most important advantages:

Basis for tational decision-making for managers based on data analysis

Real-time insights into complex IT-infrastructures to ensure service quality

Faster and more user-friendly response to high quality service requests

Relieving of support staff from boring routine tasks

Saving of costs, because to ensure the service quality no providers are needed

Early detection of problems and disruptions of an IT-environment and it´s stabilization

However, the artificial intelligence in service management is still at the beginning of its development and will not automatically help companies to be successful and more efficient. The use and implementation of the new technology demands from companies detailed planning, necessary budget, restructuring, time and finally suitable staff.

A trained staff is the secret for success of new technologies within a company. Employees are often very skeptical when new technologies are introduced, because this is accompanied by changes in processes and their previous ways of working and habits.

Here are some suggestions about how companies can increase their acceptance of using artificial intelligence among their employees:

Train employees about new technologies: Employees should be prepared about the use of new technologies and should have enough time to get familiar with them. Trainings should provide the necessary know-how to help employees. how to manage AI-systems.

Retake employees the fears of losing their jobs: The use of AI does not mean, that the own job is at a risk. Employees should be informed about new opportunities and new areas of activity.

Involve employees in the changing process: The introduction of AI within a company will always be accompanied by restructuring and changing processes. It is advisable to integrate employees into the changing process at an early stage. That way they have enough time to adapt to the new ways of working and get used to the new processes.

Assign new and more various tasks to employees: Especially service staff is often busy several times a day with the same and recurring tasks. By automating these activities through AI, service staff can be relieved and dedicated to more interesting tasks, etc. the improvement of service processes, etc.

Give employees the time to build confidence in new technologies: Especially at the beginning, it is difficult for employees to accept, trust and act referred to automated solutions of AI systems. The confidence can be built up step by step by integrating people into projects at an early stage and by slowly introducing them to the new processes.

In the future many service management activities will be handled by AI-systems, e.g. with self-service portals or with chat bots in “first-level support” to immediately handle inquiries, incidents and complaints.

The benefits of artificial intelligence in service management are unprecedented. Both users and companies as well as their employees will benefit from automated processes. The areas of activity of employees in service management will get changed and new defined. The tasks will shift to monitoring incidents in the network, problem management and change management. This development is a long process, which needs time. However, companies can start early to prepare for transformation processes.